The Hindu : National : Judge refuses to hear plea against Modi

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Thursday, May 03, 2007
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Judge refuses to hear plea against Modi

Special Correspondent

Narendra Modi

AHMEDABAD: A judge in the Gujarat High Court has refused to entertain a petition against Chief Minister Narendra Modi and 62 others, including some Ministers, seeking a direction for filing an FIR and ordering a CBI inquiry into some of the incidents of the post-Godhra communal riots in 2002.

The petition was moved by Zakia Jafri, widow of the former Congress member of Parliament, Ehsan Jafri, who was among the 39 persons killed in the Gulbarg Society carnage in Ahmedabad, and the Mumbai-based Citizens for Justice and Peace.

When the petition was placed before him, Justice M.D. Shah made a cryptic remark, "not before me," but he did not give any reason.

High Court sources said it would now be placed before some other judge for hearing but only after the court resumed after summer vacation.

Registered post

The petitioners contended that Ms. Jafri had sent by registered post a complaint to be recorded as an FIR from Surat, where she had been staying with her son since the Gulbarg carnage, to the then Director-General of Police, A.K. Bhargava, but it was not acted upon.

They complained that the police acted with an anti-minority bias during the riots and accused the Chief Minister, as also some members of his Cabinet and some senior government and police officials, of complicity.

122-page petition

The 122-page petition sought the direction of the court to register the complaint as an FIR against all the 63 accused and to hand over the inquiry to the CBI.

Directive to Ministry

A Division Bench has directed the Railway Ministry to submit the report of the Justice U.C. Bannerjee committee on the train carnage.

The direction was issued by Chief Justice Y.R. Meena and Justice A. Dave on a petition filed by the Ministry seeking permission to table the report in Parliament.

The Bench asked the Ministry to submit the report for perusal, after which it would decide whether it could be tabled in Parliament.

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